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Policy Issues

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​​Safety

Regulatory Oversight of HazMat Transportation

Freight railroads move vast quantities of the products that are critical to our health and quality of life, including fertilizer, ethanol, crude oil by rail (CBR)​ and chlorine. However, some products carried by railroads are hazardous, if mishandled. Railroads devote enormous resources to safe operations no matter what they are hauling, but the focus on hazardous materials (hazmat) transport revolves around three key areas:

1.
Prevention (stopping accidents before they occur)

2. Mitigation (reducing the impact of accidents that do occur)

3. Emergency response (providing training and other resources to local first responders)

​In light of increased hazmat—such as CBR—moving by rail in recent years, railroads undertook a top-to-bottom review of their hazmat operations. As a result, they modified some of their operating rules and entered into a voluntary agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) specifically on the movement of CBR. As a result of these efforts and other ongoing safety initiatives over the years, rail hazmat accident rates have dropped by 66 percent since 2000 alone.

In May 2015, PHMSA, in coordination with FRA, issued a final rulemaking on the movement of flammable liquids by rail, including CBR and ethanol. The final rule includes new operational requirements for certain trains transporting a large volume of Class 3 flammable liquids, improvements in tank car standards and revised requirements to ensure proper classification and characterization of energy products placed in transport.

Railroad Tank Cars

​PHMSA is the federal regulator for the movement of hazardous materials by rail, with regulations covering product classification, operating rules and tank car standards. In addition, the AAR Tank Car Committee—comprised of railroads, rail car owners and manufacturers and hazmat shippers with active participation from DOT, Transport Canada and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)—separately reviews and establishes industrywide standards for the design and operation of tank cars in North America. The rail industry has for several years been aggressively advocating for ways to improve tank car safety beyond what is required by federal regulation.

In May 2015, the DOT released a final rule establishing new, tougher standards for tank cars carrying certain hazmat, including crude oil. The new standards are known as "DOT-117" specifications.

While a good start, the new specifications were not stringent enough in certain areas, and freight railroads advocated for further action. In turn, provisions in the FAST Act addressed several of the rule's shortcomings. Specifically, the FAST Act required increased thermal blanket protection for tank cars, restricted the use of older tank cars moving flammable liquids and required top fittings protection on tank car retrofits. These enhancements will help to mitigate the consequences of rail accidents should they occur.

Separately, the May 2015 DOT tank car rules mandated the use of a technology called electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes in certain trains carrying hazmat. Unfortunately, widespread use of ECP brakes would not provide any meaningful safety benefits compared to existing braking systems. ECP brakes would
impose very large costs for minimal safety benefits. Several U.S. railroads have experimented with using ECP brakes over the years, but none have been able to justify regular use. In fact, nowhere in the world are ECP brakes used under conditions similar to what the May 2015 requirements would mandate for U.S. railroads.

For these reasons, the FAST Act included a provision directing the Government Accountability Office and the National Academy of Sciences to conduct an independent evidence-based evaluation of ECP brake systems, due in the summer of 2017. The DOT has until December 4, 2017, to publish a determination that the ECP mandate either is justified or should be repealed.

Supporting our Nation's First Responders

​

Railroads are dedicated to providing
first responders with the training and resources they need to safely respond in the rare event of a train accident. Railroads annually train more than 20,000 first responders in communities across the country, and in just two years, more than 3,300 emergency responders have received intensive, week-long training in CBR response techniques at the industry's
Security and Emergency Response Training Center (SERTC) in Pueblo, Colorado. Even more have participated in the industry's free online CBR safety course, which provides web-based training for those who cannot travel to Colorado. In the field, freight rail's
AskRail app is making a difference and
Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) safety experts are traveling the country to instruct rural volunteer emergency responders about flammable liquids response.

Proper Shipper Labeling of Hazmat

​Federal law requires rail customers to properly disclose and label hazmat shipments to ensure that appropriate rail cars are used and to assist emergency responders in case of an accident. To that end, in March 2013, PHMSA and FRA launched “Operation Classification​,” a compliance initiative involving unannounced inspections and testing of crude oil samples from the Bakken region to verify that the oil is properly classified. In January 2014, based on data collected through Operation Classification, PHMSA issued a
safety alert announcing that the type of crude oil being transported from the Bakken region may be more flammable than traditional heavy crude oil.